Textbook Chapter: 17-3 Hitler and Nazi Germany
Key Facts and Details
Topic
Hitler’s rise to power
Details
•Adolf Hitler entered politics by joining the German Workers’ Party in
Munich.
•Hitler took over the party, which was renamed the National Socialist
German Workers’ Party or Nazi for short.
Who were the Brown Shirts? (p. 568)
Mein Kampf
After an unsuccessful revolt against the government, Hitler was
imprisoned and wrote Mein Kampf (My Life), which endorsed German
nationalism, strong anti-Semitism, and anticommunism.
In Mein Kampf how did Hitler use the ideas of Social Darwinism? (p. 568)
Chief Chancellor
Hitler won support of the right-wing elites of Germany who, in 1933,
pressured the president to allow Hitler to become chancellor and create
a new government.
What was the Reichstag? (p. 569)
The Enabling Act
Allowed the government to ignore the constitution for four years while it
issued laws to deal with the country’s problems.
Why were the Enabling Acts important?
Persecution
With Hitler acting as dictator, the Nazi Party quickly brought all
institutions under their control, purged the Jews from civil service jobs,
and set up concentration camps.
How long did it take Hitler to set up the basis for a totalitarian state? (p. 570)
Hitler becomes the Sole When the president died in 1934, Hitler became the sole ruler of
Ruler of Germany
Germany.
What was Hitler’s title? (p. 570)
Hitler’s goal
•Hitler dreamed of creating a purely Aryan state that would dominate
the world.
•To achieve his goal of a Third Reich, Hitler and the Nazis used economic
policies, mass demonstrations, organizations, and terror.
How did Hitler misuse the term Aryan? (p. 570)
Heinrich Himmler
Directed the Schutzstaffeln, commonly called SS, using terror and Nazi
ideology to promote the Aryan master race.
What did the SS control? (p. 571)
German Public
Hitler created public works projects to help with the high unemployment
works projects
rates and end the Depression.
Rallies and mass
The Nazis used mass demonstrations and meetings, such as the Nuremberg
demonstrations
party rallies, to gain support and evoke excitement from the German people.
What organizations did the Nazis control to promote Nazi ideals? (p. 572)
•Under Hitler’s regime, women were seen as wives and mothers who would
bear the children destined to see the success of the Aryan race.
•Women were only allowed to work in gender-specific jobs such as nursing
and social work, but were highly encouraged to stay at home.
The Nazi Party began expanding their anti-Semitism policies to anti-Jewish
the Nuremberg laws boycotts and new racial laws such as the Nuremberg laws which were …
- defined anyone with one Jewish grandparent as a Jew
- excluded Jews from German citizenship
- stripped Jews of their civil rights
- forbade marriages between German citizens and Jews
- forbade Jews from teaching in schools and participating in the arts
- required Jews to wear yellow Stars of David and carry identification cards
Kristallnacht
On November 9, 1938, a more violent phase began with Kristallnacht.
Nazis burned synagogues and Jewish businesses and sent 30,000 Jews to
concentration camps.
What does Kristallnact mean in English? (p. 573)
The role of women
in Nazi Germany
After Kristallnacht
Jews were barred from all public transportation and public buildings,
and were prohibited from owning or working in any retail store.
The SS encouraged Jews to “emigrate from Germany.”
The Big Ideas, Connections
Topic
What steps did Hitler
take to become the
sole ruler of
Germany?
How did the Nazis
maintain control of
Germany?
Details